This project will apply a multivariate, multidisciplinary approach to the study of alcohol use and abuse in families of varying socio-economic classes. The project will involve two inter-related phases which represent an increasing intensity of study of family structural and family interactional correlates of alcohol use and abuse. In phase one, families will be intensively interviewed to elicit information on demographic, social, family structural (including historical), and attitudinal correlates of the frequency, duration, amount, and type of alcohol use. In phase two, smaller matched subsamples of the families studied in phase one will be selected to perform a systematic series of family interaction tasks in laboratory and naturalistic (home) settings. The focus of investigation here will be upon differential patterns of interaction and dynamics as a function of alcohol usage, and upon differences in interaction patterns as a function of the laboratory versus naturalistic setting.